Stop the US demand for Canada’s toxic Tar Sands

Canada’s tar sands is one of the largest industrial projects on the planet, and its environmental footprint is growing by the second. At a time when the world needs to transition to cleaner energy, the tar sands is the poster child of what we should not be doing. It’s time to put a healthy environment above corporate profit and the endless drive for more oil.

At each step of the process, turning tar sands into oil undermines the local and global environment. First, the Boreal forest's rich ecosystem must be ripped open to expose the tar sands sludge. Then, otherworldly trucks as tall as apartment buildings dig up four tons of earth for every single barrel of tar sands sludge they extract.

Next comes the resource-intensive process of using very hot water to separate the sludge from the sand and ‘cleanse’ the sludge of unwanted toxins. This creates huge quantities of water pollution. It also burns so much energy that the tar sands are Canada’s fastest growing source of global warming pollution.

Not only is extracting tar sands oil toxic, but transporting it by pipelines, tankers, or rail all pose unacceptable risks to our communities. It’s highly corrosive, and especially difficult to clean up since it is heavier and contains more chemicals than regular oil. We don’t want tar sands any which way the oil industry tries to transport it.

Shockingly, big oil companies Enbridge and Kinder Morgan are proposing a 700% increase in the number of tankers carrying toxic tar sands oil on our pristine West Coast. So, ForestEthics and ForestEthics Advocacy are launching a multinational campaign to oppose tar sands, from both sides of the US - Canada border. Get informed and get involved at http://tarsandssos.org.

When it comes to opposing pipeline and tankers projects that would pave the way for tar sands expansion, we take every opportunity to speak up. But recently, the federal government of Canada has made it unreasonably difficult for Canadians to have a say at hearings for these proposed projects. That's why ForestEthics Advocacy has filed a lawsuit against the federal government of Canada. When it comes to protecting North America from the dangers of tar sands, we will not be silenced.